Frosted Harbor Dark Raspberry Wheat
Boatyard Brewing Co.

 

 

16 ounce can into pint glass, canned on 5/25/2016. Pours fairly hazy reddish brown color with a 2 finger dense and fluffy light khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice dense soaply lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of juicy/lightly tart raspberry, caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, wheat, toasted biscuit, light chocolate/nuttiness, light herbal/pepper/clove, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready malt, raspberries, and light earthy hop/yeast ester notes; with good strength. Taste of juicy/lightly tart raspberry, caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, wheat, toasted biscuit, light chocolate/nuttiness, light herbal/pepper/clove, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Light herbal/spicy bitterness and fruit tartness on the finish; with lingering notes of raspberry, caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, wheat, toasted biscuit, light chocolate/nuttiness, and yeast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malt, raspberries, and light earthy hop/yeast ester flavors; with a great malt/bitter/spiciness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Light dryness from bitter/spiciness, that increases through the glass. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; with a very smooth, creamy/grainy/bready, and lightly sticky/chalky balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Minimal warming alcohol as expected of 5.4%. Overall this is a very nice fruited American dark wheat ale. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malt, raspberries, and light earthy hop/yeast ester flavors; very smooth and easy to drink. Body was a bit heavier than I expected, but this was still very enjoyable all around.

 

 

I picked up a bottle of Boatyard Brewing's Frosted Harbor Dark Raspberry Wheat last week for $6.99 at The Lager Mill. I've only had one beer from this brewery and it was on tap and I'm interested to see how first release of bottles is, so lets see how it goes. 2015 Vintage. Poured from a brown 22oz bottle into a imperial pint glass.

A- The label looks ok, it's got pretty simple design to it without much information, I don't think it's eye catching. It poured a murky dark red color that was a little brown looking and it took on more of that murky red color when held to the light with no head or lacing at all. This wasn't a great looking beer, the color was murky and the head and lacing were nonexistent.

S- The aroma starts of with a medium amount of sweetness with a lighter raspberry aroma being the first to show up and it smells like some natural raspberries. Up next comes an off plastic like aroma with a slight funkyness to it and it's followed by the malts which impart some nice dark wheat, sweet malt, grainy and bready aromas. This beer has a decent aroma, but the off aspects really hurt it.

T- The taste seems to be similar to the aroma and it starts off with a medium amount of sweetness with the raspberry still being the first to show up and they impart the same natural aspects that they did in the aroma. Up next comes those same funky and off aspects that I got in the aroma and it's followed by the malts which show up a little more than they did in the aroma and they still impart the same aspects with the dark wheat and bready malts seeming to show up the most. On the finish there's no bitterness with an off aftertaste and a little bit of dark wheat and raspberries showing up. This was a decent tasting beer, but the off aspects really hurt it.

M- Not the smoothest, not clean, flat, medium bodied with no carbonation. This beer had a bad mouthfeel, it was completely flat and that really hurt it.

Overall I didn't think this was a good beer and it was almost a decent example of the style, there was a decent beer hiding beneath all those off aspects, but It was hard to get through to it and in the end it just wore on me. This beer doesn't have good drinkability, it wasn't smooth, not clean, flat, not too filling and the taste didn't do a good job at holding my attention, one is more than enough for me and I almost thought about drainpouring it. What I like the most about this beer was the dark wheat aspect, it was pretty nice. What I liked the least about this beer was the off flavors and the nonexistent carbonation, those two aspects really hurt this beer. I might buy this beer again if I knew there was no issues with it and I can't recommend it as it is. All in all I wasn't impressed with this beer, I know sometimes there can be issues when a brewery first starts to bottle their beers and that what I think is happening here. It's not a favorite from this brewery and it's not a stand out in the style. Better luck next time guys, this one needs some major work.